Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Garen and I had a great time in Baton Rouge over Christmas. We were able to see a lot of the family (although we did miss some folks) and sit and relax a bit. Christmas was a lot of fun. Garen got me a new Citizen watch and he got a new Bosch router...well, the instruction manual! The darn thing was too heavy to haul down there just to bring back, so I wrapped the instruction manual for him. Baby G (who we are getting closer to naming, but still doesn't have a name) had a very nice Christmas as well. He got his first football, a bunch of clothes, a baby monitor, and an adorable LSU outfit. He is already getting spoiled and he hasn't even been born yet. We got to meet our adorable new niece Riley, who is now about 3 months old. We also got to see our nephew Reece, who miraculously became a little person since the last time we saw him. He is over 2 now and is just a ball of energy.

We flew home on Wednesday, which despite all of the disrupted flights around the country, was on time. The airport in New Orleans wasn't even crowded. Landing in Nashville was another story though...that airport was packed! But we made it home. Nilla was anxiously waiting for us (well me...she doesn't care for Garen) and I got to hold my little fur-baby. Then it was off to bed so we could both work the next day. Garen and I both have a 4 day weekend again this weekend, so the house is getting a good cleaning and organizing.

As of today, I am 27 weeks and 1 day pregnant. I have a check-up this week and I think my appointment frequency is about to be bumped up to every 2 weeks. I'm a little nervous about being weighed again after the holidays. At this appointment they also do a diabetes screening, which means I have to drink this horribly sweet drink and then let them take my blood. I don't think I will know the results until my next appointment. So wish me good luck, I hope I don't have gestational diabetes. I've also got a dentist appointment this week. I swear I have a cavity. I'm not sure what they will do about it while I am pregnant, but I sure hope they will fix it.

Travel to Louisiana

Holiday shopping is done! Garen and I flew out Friday to spend Christmas in Louisiana with his family. The flight down was really good and we got out before the big holiday rush at the airport.

Garen, his dad, and his brother Otto went fishing today. They caught 7 or 8 fish, but they said it wasn't a great fishing day. He had a good time though. All of the girls and I went out for Sushi last night. The rest of the time we are here is full of planned visits with relatives and friends. Garen's friend Adrian is a photographer and he offered to take pregnancy photos while we are down here, but I don't think my belly is big enough yet for pregnancy photos. I still feel like I just plain look fat sometimes. It really depends on the day and the clothes. I'd rather wait until I have a HUGE, obvious belly before I take those types of photos.

As of today, I am 26 weeks and 0 days pregnant. By this point, the baby should be able to recognize the sound of my voice. He probably can't recognize anyone elses yet, but he will before he is born. I guess I talk enough (who me??) that he recognizes me. Any time now, he will be able to open his eyes. I don't know what he will be looking at...but apparently he can open his eyes. Yesterday I hit 100 days left of pregnancy! It's all down hill from here.

Merry Christmas!!!!!

My fruit changed!

There isn't too much to update about this week. Since last Sunday, Garen and I have cleaned the house and gone to work, and that is pretty much it! I didn't have any extra doctor's appointments (thank goodness) and we really didn't do anything this weekend. The last few weekends have been so busy though that it has been nice to have a break. We leave on Friday for Baton Rouge for the holidays, so I'm glad we've had a weekend to relax before then.

As of today, I am 25 weeks and 1 day pregnant. My fruit FINALLY changed! Baby G is the size of an eggplant and is about 9 inches long. I found a really neat website that has short little videos about babies growth and their progress each week. It is pretty neat to watch how fast they grow.

Back to the Doctor

Last Sunday I went to the Tennessee Titans vs. Houston Texans game in Nashville. A co-worker gave me tickets, and since Garen was out of town, I took my friend Shannon. The game was great, and Tennessee won, which made it even better. It was supposed to pour down rain during the game, but miraculously held off and all we had was a little mist. Our tickets were club level, which was really nice. The food is better, the seats are more roomy and comfortable, and they have massage students inside giving out free massages, it was great!

Monday night I woke up with an awful side pain. It continued the whole day at work and then again Tuesday night. I started thinking maybe this pain wasn't baby related (it felt like it was in my kidneys) so I called the doctor on Wednesday and they had me come it. Dr. Anderson thought it might be my gallbladder or kidneys, but it turned out not to be anything internal (thank goodness!)...which means it WAS baby related. I pulled the little itty-bitty muscle in between my lowest 2 ribs on my right side. Who knew such a little muscle could cause so much pain! Well, I didn't actually pull it, the baby growing is now causing my ribs to push out and just normal movement caused it to pull. Apparently it is continually being pulled all day long and then at night when I am sleeping and the muscle relaxes it causes the most pain. Cure - time and Tylenol, not the answer I was hoping for. But I can say that I definitely feel better now.

While I was at the doctor they weighed me again. I had just gone to the doctor the Tuesday of the week before, so it had only been 8 days since I was weighed...I gained 6 lbs!!! They put me on 2 scales just to be sure!!! Of course, at my last weigh in I'd only gained 1/2 a pound, but still. So now my grand total is 16 1/2 pounds! Here is what I look like now -

Garen came home on Friday and we went appliance shopping. I asked for a new washing machine for Christmas and the Sears Appliance Outlet in Nashville was having a sale. And on top of the sale, they were giving out $100 vouchers to the first 25 people in the store...so we left the house at 6am Saturday morning to get a voucher. There was a line outside, but we were one of the first 25 and were able to get the certificate, and I have a new washing machine now! We bought an LG front-load with a 4.0 cf capacity, it holds a LOT of clothes! We really needed a new washing machine before the baby comes.

As of today, I am 24 weeks and 1 day pregnant. I wish I had a new fruit to update the size comparison...maybe next week. Baby G is still nameless but discussions are on. I don't think we will make a decision for a while. Baby G is incredibly active and Garen can not only feel Baby G kick and spin, but we can watch my stomach jump and move when the baby moves. Nilla actually likes it and tries to lay on my tummy when the baby is most active. It is cute.

GO LSU!

This has been the busiest week at work! But during the week I had my 6 month check up. Baby G (who is still nameless) is healthy and has a strong heartbeat. My doctor talked to me about prenatal classes that the hospital offers (I need to sign up in Dec. for the Feb classes). Unfortunately the classes are 1 night a week for a month, so Garen will only be able to go to 2 of them with me. There are a couple of classes we can choose from - a Lamaze class, a newborn class, and a breastfeeding class. I will definitely take the latter two, but I'm not so sure about the Lamaze - I planning on taking drugs! I know it doesn't always work that way, but I'm going to be optimistic because I don't think I can take 3 classes in February!

Tonight is my office Christmas party, which I am partially in charge of. Unfortunately, today is ALSO the LSU vs. Tennessee SEC championship! Most of the people I work with are huge Tennessee fans, so we are trying to get a TV set up so we can watch the end of the game. Otherwise I think we will have a lot of late party-goers! One of the other ladies setting up with me today is a Tennessee fanatic! I decided to play a little joke on her tonight and when I was making name tags, I made her a special one with a giant LSU logo on it!

I set up the play yard that Mom bought us. Man was that thing complicated! It wouldn't be so bad if the directions had been followed (Garen!) because it has a very specific order to follow when putting it up. It actually took so long that it is still up in the dining room. Nilla decided to check it out and spent a few hours sleeping in it 1 night this week. Since then she has left it alone. Below are pictures of her exploring it.

As of today, I am 23 weeks and 0 days pregnant. My fruit didn't change!!! I think the website I've been visiting updated their fruit and moved the Papaya up a week.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Garen and I went to Iowa last week to spend Thanksgiving with my family. And since we spend enough time in Iowa this trip, I was able to get together with some of my girlfriends for a baby shower. Sunday we met in Cedar Rapids and the girls from Des Moines, Minneapolis, Iowa City, and Burlington had lunch together. It was so much fun and it was great to see everyone again! They gave Baby G such wonderful gifts and such a variety! He now has a Pack n' Play, a ton of books, some new clothes, pjs, receiving and regular blankets, pacifiers, a changing table pad, toys, a teething ring, spoons, wash cloths, links, a boppy cover, and a bunch of Cheerios stuff. The Cheerios stuff came from Krista, who works for General Mills, and it is so cute. It is a little yellow onesie, blanket, and bib that say "I Love My Cheerios" and a Cheerios dispenser and the "Cheerios Kid" stuffed toy. I had such a good time at lunch visiting with my friends, I just felt bad for the poor waiter who always showed up at the end of a story (generally about birth)!

Of course after lunch several of us decided to go over to the mall and go shopping. Audrey works for Gap and had several Friends and Family Day coupons that were about to expire. We couldn't have that!!! It is a good thing Mom and I don't live near each other because we ended up buying a lot of stuff! Baby clothes are just too cute. I also found a onesie I had been looking for. It is a Family Guy onesie with Stewie on it and he says, "I've come with a gift. I'll give you a hint: It's in my diaper, and it's not a toaster." Garen loves it! They had a really funny Bob Marley onesie too (that I did not get) that had his face on it and said "B is for Bob".

A lady Mom works with, Marie, her husband Carey, and their 8 mo. old daughter Elly spent Thanksgiving Day with us. Mom thought it would be fun to show Garen what a baby is really like. Unfortunately Elly is the most well-behaved child in the world and I had to explain to Garen that this is scenario "A" and while it is ideal, it isn't likely. Elly didn't cry once all day. The only thing remotely "bad" that she did was spit out all of her food, slap her hands in it and then roll her bottle through it.

The fabric store was having great sales while we were home too, so I put Mom to work sewing receiving blankets, fleece blankets, burp cloths, and spit up rags. I also brought home the window valance that matches the sheet set Garen and I bought last week. It is 2x too long for the window in the baby room - so I made a drawing of how I want to take it apart and re-lay part of it out for a new valance with matching curtains and tie-backs. Of course there is still a bit of excess fabric which Mom will use to make a matching changing table pad and a pillow. Mom and I finished most of it, but I left her with the window project.

As of today I am 22 weeks and 0 days pregnant. Baby G has grown to the size of a Papaya and is kicking away! Below is the picture of the crib set that I couldn't post last week. I think we have everything in the picture plus a few extras, except the wall-border and curtains.

And we have movement!

Well, before we get to the movement, let's back up a little bit to registering last Saturday. Garen and I headed off to Babies R Us, to walk around confused and alone as we attempted to figure out what we need versus what they tell you "you need", which is not an easy feat in a store with an entire wall dedicated to baby bottle nipples! After about an hour, Garen begged and pleaded to leave...so I took him to another baby store. (I'm a nice wife most of the time.) We went to USA Baby to look at crib bedding because they have oodles on display and books with detailed photos and fabric samples of the sets that aren't on display in the store. We wrote down a few we liked from those in the store and from the books, and we decided to take 1 last walk-through before we left. And then we saw it, the clearance section, full of discontinued crib bedding sets. So we went digging and found 2 off our list! They were both floor models at one time, so in addition to the 4-6 piece crib set, they both were packaged with most of the other items in the collection. We ended up buying a jungle set called Zanzibar with more extra pieces than we know what to do with. In addition to the sheet, bumper, quilt, and skirt, we also got the diaper stacker, hamper, valance, wall hangings, door knobs, height chart, lamp with shade, pillow set, basket liner, and a chair cover (for a little kid lounge chair, which we don't have or need!).

The valance for the set is way too big for the window in Baby G's room, so I am going to have Mom cut it down and make panels to go with it. With the extra fabric from the valance, she is going to make a changing pad cover too (Mom is going to be busy next week!).

Sunday night, I was laying on the couch and I felt these odd bubbles in my abdomen. After a few repeats I told Garen I was pretty sure I could officially feel the baby. The next day at work, Baby G did flip flops all morning and with the movement being a new feeling still, it was quite distracting. He kept this up all week. Then on Friday night, Garen and I went to bed. I was laying on the heating pad (my back has been getting worse) and Baby G was doing summersaults. I put my hand over him hoping to calm him down so I could fall asleep and I swear I felt my hand rise! But there is no way that could be the baby....I just started feeling him and according to the books, most women can't feel movement outside the body until closer to 30 weeks! But Baby G isn't in my mid-section that is growing...he has situated himself in-between my hips. So I pushed on my hand down a bit and he moved again! I woke Garen up and asked him to try and feel it (to make sure I wasn't imagining it). He begrudgingly gave me his hand and I put it on the baby and pushed down a bit. After a moment Baby G moved again and Garen jerked his hand back! He said "What was that?!" He said it felt weird and he wasn't sure if he liked it or not. But the baby is finally moving and moving well.

As of today, I am 21 weeks and 1 day pregnant. The baby is the size of a banana (think length).